It's one thing to use a car cover for parking your car for a month and washing it before you do it. But it's completely different for day to day.

A snug fitting car cover is awkward to put on with one person. If it's not snug, it will fly all over the place with windy days. There's no way the car will be clean every day that you put it on since it's called daily driving for a reason. So that means your car cover will be filthy itself after a short while. That means if you had a clean car, the cover will get it dirty. It's a losing game to try and wash these nice covers.

Days when it's raining and you need to take the cover off and get the soaking huge piece of cloth into the trunk are no fun either.

If I couldn't park under a cover and my car had to sit in the sun all day, I would lease or buy something less than a Lotus for that torture.

I daily drive my Esprit and have 2 car covers. The 88 MY has an old-school electrically retractable antenna that makes it easy to put a cover on.

The 1st is a fancy Evolution 3 custom fitting cover (about $220) that I only used twice so far. Too bulky and very delicate to wash on a frequent basis (doesn't fit my top loader washing machine).

The 2nd is single layer 100% cotton cover (originally for a Pantera) bought used off craigslist for $50. It was 99% new and I used it all summer 2012 (May - September). It is tight fitting and does not fly off except on the windiest days. And it is small enough to wash at home in a standard top loader washing machine.

I wash the car and cover once a week to minimize the dirt grinding into the paint. Nothing is 100% - purists may cringe at the practice but I wanted to prevent future sun damage on my 99% pristine original factory leather interior as well as the 99% pristine Calypso factory paint.

In the fall/winter San Jose days, I do not use a cover; only a dash cover to keep the black leather dashboard protected. I also park on the shady side of the building at work.

Besides all of the pine needles, depending on the species and time of year, you get a LOT of sap from the trees too. You need a good, impervious, outdoor cover. They are bulky and can be a pain to put on. Take a look at California Car Covers. Certainly not the cheapest covers but they are among the better quality ones. Maybe park a block away from the trees too (if possible). Or maybe there is some indoor parking you can pay for?
David Teitelbaum

Wouldn't it be cool to have a system where the car cover never touches the car? Something like a thin tarp that is held over the car with 4 poles. Have some kind of hidden recepticles for the poles that are bolted to the sides of the car. Maybe have flaps sewn in that allow the wind to blow through and let the rain drain. Letting the rain get on the car is not the end of the world because it's more about protecting from the sun and things like pine needles and bird poop.

There are car covers that cover a car but do not touch. They are inflatable. I have one and they are great but for obvious reasons not as easy and convenient to get the car in and out of. There are also foldable canopies. Again, not very convenient and take up a lot of room, more than is in the trunk of a Lotus!
David Teitelbaum

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